Chem question

[TecHNooB]

Why is the amount of energy required to free an electron from its valence band always the same after the electron is free? Is it because another will fill its place almost instantly and we never worry about removing 2? Shouldn't the nucleus have a tighter hold on the remaining electrons?

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Yum, thermodynamics. I'd like to know as well.

 

[zerocool84]

Highly Technical

 

[DrawninwarD]

Wait what exactly is your question?

If you have something like Mg2+ with two valence electrons... The first electron requires a certain amount of energy to remove. The second electron will require more energy to remove because the nucleus does have a stronger hold on it. There's also no repulsion on the second electron from the first anymore.

I remember doing this in highschool, but you can't think about the normal orbits that go from 2, 8, 8, etc. You have to think about the orbitals and sp3 hybridization. Orbitals being the area where the electron is most likely to be found.

But in any case, electrons for a certain atom give off different amounts of energy when they're plucked away from the atom.

I think.

 

[cirthix]

it's not the same

 

[uclaLabrat]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
Why is the amount of energy required to free an electron from its valence band always the same after the electron is free? Is it because another will fill its place almost instantly and we never worry about removing 2? Shouldn't the nucleus have a tighter hold on the remaining electrons?

rephrase the question please?

I think what you're asking is why isn't there more than one ionization energy?

There is, and as posted above, the higher ionization energies are successively greater due to the greater effective charge of the nucleus and lesser electron pair repulsion after each successive electron is ejected.

 

[TecHNooB]

ok, so the energy required is not the same. that's what i wanted to see 🙂